For the past 25 years, Frantic Assembly has been a fierce and eclectic theatre company, with a focus on physicality and creating cohesive, emotional performances.
This approach has brought them widespread acclaim. In their varying performances, the throughline is the toxic effects of isolation and fear, and the importance of connection. In their current tour, they are once again bringing these sensibilities to Shakespeare’s Othello, reprising their 2014 and 2008 productions.
Watching the latest production at the Playhouse last night, where it will continue its run for the rest of the week, it’s clear why Frantic Assembly keeps returning to this story. The themes - deception, insecurity, power - are all as relevant today as ever. Their decision to set the play in modern gang culture, with actors jostling around a pool table and slot machine, feels far less mannered than one might expect. So often, ‘modern retellings’ strain to blend their source material in with a present-day storyline, but this adaptation simply makes the plot feel more immediate. Not saddled with the exoticizing force of being set centuries ago, the themes of the play are drawn to the surface, like venom from a wound (unsurprisingly, and deservedly, there were dozens of students in the audience on opening night - cheering as the lights first dropped and audibly gasping as the performance hurtled towards its conclusion).
So what is the plot of Othello? Without giving too much away, cunning, cruel Iago is angry that his General, Othello, has overlooked him for promotion to Lieutenant, giving the role instead to a man named Cassio. Iago plots to destroy Othello’s relationship with his wife Desdemona, unseat Cassio from his position, and seize control. Famously, things do not end well.
Michael Akinsulire plays Othello with a brash, assured confidence that suits the alpha-male take on this character. His Othello understands that loyalty and trust are rare and precious commodities, and that, in a business fuelled by violence and power struggles, a little paranoia is essential to stay ahead of the curve. Meanwhile, as Desdemona, Chanel Waddock brings her character to roaring life, making her romantic but deeply streetwise, ready to throw a snappy comeback in her East London accent. There’s a lovely scene in the first act where the couple is curled up on the pool table, caressing each other in the soft violet light, while a delicate, ominous indie pop song twinkles overhead. Waddock’s chemistry with Akinsulire compels and convinces, acting as a bastion of tenderness and depth amongst all the brawling and bickering, and further underpinning the play’s later tragedy. The lighting work is masterful, seemingly slowing and quickening the pulse of a scene as needed, and using flashes of pure darkness to punctuate moments of violence.
Laura Hopkins set design deserves a shout-out here too, with a creatively designed double-sided backdrop, that accordions out when pressed - used to illustrate the mental state of an inebriated character, and later a cowering one, to impressive effect.
Particularly excellent as well are both Joe Layton as Iago and Kirsty Stuart as his wife, Emilia. In Iago, Layton conjures a convincingly sociopathic character, chilling and infuriatingly amused by the chaos he’s creating. As Emilia, Stuart creates one of the most wry and moving characters in the show, from a role that could’ve been largely thankless.
The language is kept fully intact, though trimmed to make room for several riveting sequences of physical theatre - after the curtains open, several minutes pass before the first line is spoken - and this gives the performance a glorious rashness. Shakespeare’s blank verse feels far from flowering and considered - here characters spit words out, wheedling, cajoling and threatening their way to what they want. Frantic Assembly has created a vivid, claustrophobic little world, where brittle power structures and toxic masculinity reign supreme. A gorgeously intense production, not to be missed.